By Sebastian Mackay

Released Friday July 11th, 2014 - UMusic

There've been a few reviews kicking about for this album (to say highly anticipated is redundant. Anyone that's experienced a Rise Againstrecord knows that the years in between them are like not breathing) one such smoke blowing blow hard suggested the Rise Against "formula" was getting old and another reckons that they've come out with a "decent result".

But here's the thing, this is Rise Against.

It's not Rise Against meets Skrillex in a back alley to wake up the next morning and say "fuck me, what have we done?" and it's sure as hell not a case of "these guys are older, their more mellow, their not punk" (which is so fucking hipster of you). It's pure, unapologetic Rise Against. Everything we've loved from Revolutions Per Minute to Endgame built on, intensified and just as pissed off as ever.

Rise Against have always walked one foot in political songwriting and the other in deeply personal, relatable lyrics. The Black Market is an equally skilled balance of emotional personable song writing (I Don't Want To Be Here Anymore) and hate-fuelled targeted political protest (The Eco-Terrorist In Me: "I've found God in the sound of your factories burning down and now I sleep so sound").

In true Rise Against fashion they're not backing down from anything. People Live Here deals with the massacre of kindergarten children, a la Sandy Hook, while evoking the imagery of war consuming countries like a tidal wave.

Rise Against aren't only back, they're more lethal, more targeted and more cutting than ever.

5/5